The Villages Daily Sun

Lost in the Fog, the magnificent colt who was bred and foaled at Susan Seper’s modest farm in Ocala and went on to win the 2005 Eclipse Award as the nation’s champion sprinter, was euthanized Sunday. It had been three weeks since cancerous tumors were discovered in his spleen and around his back.

When doctors discovered the growths, owner Harry Aleo and trainer Greg Gilchrist decided to take the colt back to his home base at Golden Gate Fields and let him live out his remaining days in familiar surroundings where he could be around those who cared for and loved him. A few days later, it was decided to try chemotherapy and other options to see if the tumors would shrink.

Seper had not heard of Lost in the Fog’s death when I called her Monday.

“He meant everything to me,” Seper, the first human Lost in the Fog laid eyes on, said. “I led his mother by the halter into the foaling stall and foaled him. When I heard they were going to do chemo, I was apprehensive. I didn’t want him to suffer.”

The Ocala resident said Lost in the Fog had people looking after his well-being from his birth until his death.

“I often said he was the luckiest horse on the planet for everything that happened to him and the people he went through in his life,” Seper said. “Kelly (Mitchell) bought him from me and took good care of him, and then the (Greg and Karen) Dodds bought him and they were very careful with him, getting him through the 2-year-old sale. Then, when Greg bought him for Mr. Aleo, they managed his career magnificently for him. They took the utmost care of him and that made me happy. They did what was best for the horse.”

Lost in the Fog won his first 10 starts last year. It wasn’t just that he won races, it’s how he did it. He won five graded-stakes races, took races in five different states, set a couple of track records and ran away from his opponents in his first year of racing. His first loss came when he finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. This year he was second in the Golden Gate Fields Sprint, won the Grade-3 Aristides Stakes at Churchill Downs, and in his final start finished ninth in the Smile Sprint Stakes at Calder.

There are indications that the colt may have been suffering from the disease that took his life as far back as the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. If that is true, there is no telling how good he could have been if he had stayed healthy.

“Looking back, I firmly believe it. He didn’t run with the fire he normally did,” Seper said. “I think if he had been healthy, he would have been right there at the wire.”

Seper said Lost in the Fog had strong support from his many fans throughout his career.

“He was just a nice colt. He had a fan club. Not only people from around the Bay area, but from across the country,” she said. “They traveled to see him. When he did a workout between races at the California Fair, they had the largest attendance ever. The crowd stood on their feet yelling for him and it was just a workout.

“When they had the Summit of Speed at Calder, it was postponed by a hurricane,” she added. “I was walking through the grandstand and a man told me he had driven all the way from, I think Jacksonville, just to see him run. I just thought, ‘Wow.’”

According to Seper, Gilchrist suggested cremating Lost in the Fog and sending his ashes to Ocala. Seper would rather see them stay in Northern California, where Bloodhorse magazine described him as the most popular horse to run there since Seabiscuit.

“I called the track at Golden Gate Fields. I want him to be remembered there and the track wants to do it, too,” she said. “They want to put a statue up. I want Harry to be able to see the statue when he has horses in the paddock. I want the people to see him that applauded him. I want to see the statue and I want what is best for him. I want people to see what he has done. He deserves it, he’s an Eclipse champion. I think it will be all right with Greg.”